by Chan Ly, Commerical Interior Designer, Brays Creek, NSW
Throughout my adult life I had always considered myself as being healthy. I thought I was looking after myself by eating healthy food. I never smoked, drank alcohol, coffee or took any drugs. I felt my body was in good shape and I had always been petite and I would often over eat at meal times because I wouldn’t put on extra weight. The first time I ever had to go into hospital was to give birth to my beautiful son when I was 25. My entire pregnancy was amazing; I felt a little bit of morning sickness during the first trimester only, and labour was natural and fairly quick.
I had my second pregnancy 3 years later. I went through a very different experience. I had suffered from severe morning sickness throughout the first trimester. I was mostly dehydrated and I constantly ate to try to get rid of the nausea. I was working full time and living on a boat with my partner and son. I struggled through the first 3 months and felt so much better when the morning sickness subsided. During the second trimester, I was feeling more tired than usual and I went to all the regular check-ups at the hospital. It was a standard procedure at 26 weeks of pregnancy to do a glucose test to check for diabetes. When the results came back, I got a call from the nurse while I was at work to tell me that I was just slightly over the borderline of being classified as having gestational diabetes. I didn’t quite understand what this all meant at the time, how it all worked and what I was going to enter into. I just remember getting off the phone and crying. I cried, not because I was afraid of having gestational diabetes, but because I was disappointed and felt extremely sad that my body wasn’t coping with the pregnancy. I thought I was healthy and well, but now my body was telling me something different. I was under the illusion that I was very healthy because I had never experienced any illness or disease, until now.
The gestational diabetes explained why I was feeling so exhausted, I didn’t have any energy at all. Washing up dishes at the sink was a major task, I had to lay down 2 or 3 times before I could complete the task. Simple daily chores became an effort and I was constantly exhausted. I thought this was just part of being pregnant, but I knew something was not right, and the test confirmed this. The nutritionist and doctors tried me on a strict diet and exercise to regulate my glucose levels. I was given a kit to do blood tests 6 times a day, a blood test before and after each meal, which meant I had to prick my fingers and extract blood into a device that did the reading for sugar levels in my blood system. The diet and exercise didn’t control my glucose levels, even though I actually lost weight during this trial, so the doctors started me on a very small dose of insulin. I was told to eat more and I was shown how to use the insulin pen and how to inject it into my system 3 times a day. I thought to myself, ‘lucky I am not afraid of needles’, I felt like a pin cushion.
After accepting that I had gestational diabetes I wanted to find out why. I did some research on the internet and asked my doctor why I had gestational diabetes, when I didn’t fit into the list of likely reasons for developing it. He simply replied: “It is your change of diet”. I knew exactly what he meant.
I grew up eating traditional Chinese meals that were gluten free, dairy free and very low in sugar and salt. When I moved to England at the age of 7, I was introduced to dairy, gluten, sugar and caffeinated tea. Slowly my diet had changed and I started eating food that I thought was healthy but was in fact making my body, heavy, dull and overloaded. I felt it in my body every time I ate food that wasn’t supportive, but I would override it because it was advertised as being healthy and I became addicted. For many years I had thought about giving up dairy, cakes and the occasional junk food because I often felt terrible after eating it, but I made excuses and justified eating this way. I felt it was going to be impossible to give up my addiction to gluten, dairy and sugar. I felt I was doing really well by not abusing my body with drugs, alcohol or smoking. I had this idea that I was healthy and I was looking after myself because I wasn’t over doing it with junk food.
The message my body was giving me with developing gestational diabetes did not lead me to change my diet by cutting out gluten, dairy and sugar. I continued eating the same diet for another 6 years with this nagging feeling that I needed to change it but I felt I couldn’t, the change seemed impossible. I was also aware that my chances of developing type 2 diabetes were now 25% higher than previously. I thought: “I’ll take my chances” and continued to live the same way.
I was introduced to Universal Medicine 4 or so years after my pregnancy. I started to attend Serge Benhayon’s presentations and workshops. Everything I was presented resonated for me as truth and love. I started having Esoteric Healing sessions from various practitioners and felt amazing every time. I started to feel lighter, more connected, gentle and tender. I was inspired to start taking care of myself, to be gentle, loving and nurturing. I started to learn about true health and vitality. I saw this in people I met at Universal Medicine and I became extremely inspired.
On New Year’s Day 2013, I decided to try something for myself, I wanted to see how my body felt by cutting out gluten, dairy, caffeine and refined sugar. I was very curious as to how I would go and I surprised myself by how amazing I felt after the first month. I felt energised, calmer, lighter and more clarity. I was feeling more myself, with less moodiness and I even started going to bed super early and waking up with vitality and no heaviness. I used to be the last person to get out of bed in the family and now I am the first. Two years ago I would never have dreamt I would be able to function getting up and starting my day at 3 or 4am, let alone feeling alert and energised that time of the morning.
I have learnt that although I didn’t abuse my body with other substances, like drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, I was actually abusing my body with food. I had received clear signs from my body at a very young age that certain food was not supportive and was actually harming, but I was overriding those signs. I had been using food for comfort to numb my hurts and to cover up the sadness I held in my body. I am now making loving choices, to listen to my body, to nurture and care for it. By listening to my body I am constantly readjusting to what it needs to feel lighter, energised and vital. I now see food and lifestyle as my medicine and preventative for developing diabetes later in life. I am not taking any chances; I am taking responsibility for my choices.
I am deeply blessed and grateful to have been introduced to Universal Medicine, Serge Benhayon, his family and other students. They have inspired me to live life in truth and love. I am learning to reconnect to the amazing woman that I am, to express love and truth in everything that I do. To not hold back any more, but to express who I am every day.
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Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
Taking responsibility for ourselves and our health helps us to be more responsible for those whose we take care of.
Chan, coming also from an asian decent, I found even my foods to be heavy. Isn’t it ironic how we can eat other peoples cuisine and we always go back to our own foods we grew up around. If I was away, I found one particular dish I needed to eat upon returning home, and that was aubejeine curry. It had a memory attached to it and it was of my mum and home, forget about the effects it had on my body.
Over the years and also since meeting Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine and their practitioners, I take heed of how my body reacts or responds to food. And much of my Indian cuisine can be pretty heavy.
I now love blending the two, use some of the spices and making sure the food is flavoured and not laden that it leaves my body, heavy and lethargic.
We need to be mindful of any foods that leave us in a state that does not allow our natural ability to work. If you are being left in slump then query the foods. If the food leaves your body in a state of vitality, then its nourished the body lovingly. There’s food for thought here (pun taken).
Loving ourselves can take us very far. We don’t even have to have an agenda on what to do, but it keeps claiming the quota of our beingness and our movement changes accordingly. This is a very different way of learning, I find.
Food is so very much medicine, and how we are with it, can either nurture and support us or dull us … I know it’s been my drug of choice in the past, I know exactly when to overeat so I do not feel what is there and that I don’t want to feel – it really shows how much we innately know and how when we are supported to reconnect with that, we can find a new relationship with food, our bodies and ourselves.
Monica, I agree ‘food is so very much medicine’; food is now a drug of addiction and to hear that food industries lace it with so much sugar, is very disappointing too. It probably ruins more people’s lives, no different to the common recreational drugs. The drug supplier?, Your local supermarket.
We have gone from eating to survive or nourish our bodies, to eating for gluttony, we’ve tipped the balance/scales.
Very wise words Linda, I wish I listened to my body more and understood how important this is from a young age. But it is never too late to start as our body is very responsive to healing and responsive to our loving choices. Our body is always healing itself but if we over exhaust it, our body will slow down this healing process and even get ill which is all part of a huge healing as well.
“Everything I was presented resonated for me as truth and love.” Universal Medicine presents the truth with love that the way we choose to live and care for ourselves is felt in our body.
There is always that disparity between what we think is heathy and what our body actually says is healthy.
I love how something we once considered impossible can become not just possible, but easily done – not by pushing and efforting, but just as a natural eventuality because of small adjustment we introduce into our everyday life – like saying yes and surrendering to love, just even a tad more than we ever have.
That is incredible Doug, thank you for sharing and it highlights to me how our thoughts can sometimes get in the way of us making certain choices.
Thank you Susan, it is definitely worth it and I haven’t looked back. I now understand how much my diet affects how I feel and how much it contributes to my level of vitality. The way I eat can either make me feel dull, heavy and tired or I can feel light, vibrant, clear and connected to myself.
That is amazing Doug, and to heal from irritable bowel syndrome by changing your diet is inspiring. It shows your commitment to self-love and to nurture your body and to embrace life is very strong and solid. It is inspiring to read and I would love to read more about your experience.
Thank you Sally and I am continuously refining this more and more. Sometimes I can fall back into eating for comfort but the foods I eat most people would consider it to be super healthy but now I realise overeating can also have a similar effect on me now as when I used to eat junk food.
Just noticing there are many substitutes on the market, we now have whole isles in the supermarket of gluten free products, we have stores dedicated to flavoured vape ‘cigarettes’, and no doubt huge gap in the market for alcohol free spirits, beers and wines. None of these however address the fact that it is not substitution that is needed, but an honest look at what is going on if our collective health is to make a true change.
So true Rosanna, honesty and willingness to discard anything that does not support us or support our health and way of life is the first step to true change.
In many ways this highlights how most of us just accept the exhaustion, aches, pains, tensions, and luster-lacking life we lead as just being normal and part and parcel ‘of life’. This in itself is a great ill to our species as we do not even question whether life in fact could be an entirely different experience
Brilliantly expressed Joshua, I definitely agree and you’ve made a great point. It is a concern that many people do not question the level exhaustion we live with but have silently accepted this as the norm. I didn’t realise there was another way until I met people at Universal Medicine who are living a very vital and joyful life. They inspired me to no end and continuously inspire me every day.
This I feel is where the dieting views and beliefs come into play; many of the foods are low fat, low sugar, low this and that but are still the same foods. The manufacturers are great at marketing something as being healthy by changing the name and confusing the consumer. We as the consumer believe that we are making healthy choices but in fact are still suffering from the same ailments.
Great point Julie and so many of us fall for this because we tend to think we are healthy but forget to check in with our body in terms of how our body feels after eating. When we rely on our mind we can be easily fooled with regards to food but when we listen to our body it will reveal the truth of how certain foods make us feel
There are so many ways we abuse ourselves, our food, thoughts, way we move. There is much to appreciate about our bodies as they are constantly showing us the truth of our choices and how these impact our health.
So true Ruth, I didn’t realise this until I came to Universal Medicine and understand what abuse really is. I used to be oblivious to the many ways we abuse our body with food, our thoughts and the way we move. Now, it is so obvious and my health has improved hugely because of this.
We have come to a point where illness and disease is high, and on the rise. Why this is and looking at ways to change this paradigm are very needed. Reading this article hints at some very significant issues that we have as a world community. Knowing a way we are living is not supportive of our body, but ignoring this knowing is by far high on the list. It is not that we ignore that is the issue, but what lies behind this choice is what each of us needs to explore if we want to support our body to be more healthy and vital.
It is great to explore Leigh and I notice that the way I am throughout the day affects my food choices. It is the way I walk, sit, express and hold my body which then leads me to either feel full within myself or feel empty and go searching for food in the pantry to fill the void.
Considering ourselves as healthy just because we have not smoked, drank alcohol, done drugs shows just how far we have come from living with true vitality, even though it is awesome to have not partaken in these harmful pursuits. We now have many people on the planet that feel they are healthy just because they don’t have cancer or heart disease, for instance. One day we will only consider ourselves as having real wellbeing when we are living with harmony, joy, love, and stillness in all of our daily activities, as we are designed to.
“One day we will only consider ourselves as having real wellbeing when we are living with harmony, joy, love, and stillness in all of our daily activities, as we are designed to.” So true Michael. There is a general lack of understanding in the world today of what true health really is.
So true Michael, what you’ve shared highlights to me how far we have strayed from true health and forgetting what it looks like to be healthy, vital and full of joyful energy.
It is easy to override what our body is telling us about food, because food dulls our awareness, what I found was eventually certain foods no longer felt right, I actually started to get more physical signs like mouth ulcers, or stomach cramps, which made me realise that my body was trying to tell me something, that it didn’t like the food I was eating, I came to realise that not all food that tastes good is good for you and so I began to listen to what my body needed.
I know what you mean Sally, that food dulls our awareness. We all have to eat but we can eat in a way that is light and in a way, that supports us to not feel heavy and dull. For example, we had some friends over for dinner for the first-time a while ago and one of their comments was that they felt light afterward and I took that as a compliment.
I feel it is worthwhile getting a comprehensive check up from the doctor every year and occasionally more comprehensive blood and urine tests to check what’s going on with our health as we can think we are doing ok, when in truth our body is deteriorating on the inside.
Thank you for the reminder, Elaine. I went for a health check up last year and I am due for one again soon. Prior to Universal Medicine, I didn’t pay much attention to care and love my body the way I do now.
We can say to ourselves that our body is not coping, in your case with pregnancy and be sad and disappointed but it is always a clear message that our body is giving us and when we start to listen we know the body delivers us truth and will not stop until we act on what it is communicating.
It is very important to listen to our body. Can you imagine what it would be like if we didn’t receive messages from our body? I had a friend tell me how he badly hurt his shoulder because he was on very strong painkillers and he kept on working. He didn’t realised he damaged his shoulders because he couldn’t feel any pain until it was too late.
We can abuse ourselves in so many different ways. Alcohol and drugs are obvious but having no regard for oneself is equally or in my opinion more abusive to the body than any substance yet this way of being is not accepted in society as abuse that we carry out towards ourselves in every moment every single day which we choose to be totally ignorant and oblivious to.
Great point Caroline, what you’ve shared is so needed. We have so many forms of abuse in our society that are disguised as being good and even healthy for us.
There are so many things we can buy to counter exhaustion, I don’t think we have any idea how exhausted we really are. Very interesting what you say about changing diet. Food seems to have earned a cultural status and in its progression it has merged and fused with all kinds of things from everywhere and now everything seems to contain too much sugar/salt as enhancement. We are eating decidedly more both in volume and variation, but not necessarily eating better.
We seem to think that food gives us energy but then how can it make us feel tired if we eat certain foods or eat too much?
‘I now see food and lifestyle as my medicine and preventative for developing diabetes later in life. I am not taking any chances; I am taking responsibility for my choices.’ It’s great to feel how you are claiming your responsibility for how you are living and how that may or may not contribute to you developing diabetes in later life. With the explosion in diabetes currently what you write is gold because it is in understanding how someone changes from feeling powerless over the fact that they may develop e.g. diabetes in later life and choosing to ‘take their chances’ rather than looking at how they are living and supporting themselves with their diet to make positive changes. Demonstrating so clearly that we all have the power to make lifestyle changes and thus prevent disease is a message that needs to be heard if we are not to completely bankrupt our health systems worldwide.
I agree with you Helen. I talk to people who suffer from multiple symptoms of illness and disease mainly caused by lifestyle choices. And, I get the impression that they already know that they have the power to make amazing changes to their health and they share that they find it very difficult to let go of certain patterns, behaviours and food choices that they already know is not good for their health. They often say I can’t give up xyz because ‘I love my xyz’.